王蠋 / Wang Zhu

王蠋 / Wang Zhu appears in 《资治通鉴·周纪》72丨什么样的人 才是忠贞之士？ as a worthy man from 齐国 after 乐毅 and 燕国 have broken Qi in 284 BCE. The episode says he had once served in office but withdrew because 齐湣王 did not accept remonstrance.

Yan forces first signal respect by keeping troops away from the area around him and offering wealth plus a ten-thousand-household fief. When he refuses, the approach turns coercive: Yan soldiers threaten to slaughter his city if he does not come.

Wang Zhu’s answer is the episode’s central ethical case. He says a loyal minister does not serve two rulers, judges himself already unable to save the broken state and dead ruler, and refuses to live by submitting under force. His death becomes the source case for 忠义牵连困境: he will not serve Yan, but he also will not make his neighbors the price of his refusal.

Connections

• 齐国 and 齐湣王 - original polity and failed ruler he had remonstrated against.
• 燕国 and 乐毅 - conquering side whose forces seek to recruit him.
• 忠义牵连困境 - central concept attached to his death.
• 贵族名誉高于生命 and 义利之辨 - adjacent ethical frames.
• 礼贤下士式人才吸附 - first, non-coercive side of Yan’s approach before the threat.